


Almost Finals

by Geny614



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 00:35:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6589555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geny614/pseuds/Geny614
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is almost finals and college students are already losing it. Including Taeyong and Taeil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Almost Finals

**Author's Note:**

> Unedited College Au that wouldn't stop bothering me. So here you go. Taeyong has a staring problem when it comes to Taeil. Taeil is okay with it. Also in 3rd pov of Taeyong perspective.

 It wasn’t finals seasons yet. It was only early April, but finals were approaching fast. Professors were not wasting time either. Each class ended with a list of assignments, new readings from revised syllabuses and papers. So many papers. Plus dance practices, and random quizzes. It was all just being shoved down the student’s throats. Violently. Taeyong felt very wronged.    
  Friday nights were meant for resting and getting wrecked. Taeyong didn’t think they were very special though. He would have liked to spend them in the comfort of his dorm, under his warm blanket in bed. Especially after the long week he has had. He had at least three different quizzes just one this morning he spent the later part of the night studying for and of course math worksheets up the ass on top of everything else. Instead of sleeping like the a dead person in his bed he was in the library in the silent study area again. His laptop rested on the coffee table in front of him. He leaned back in the warm soft arm chair. He stared at the screen blankly. He was about a thousand words into his short essay that was due Monday morning. If he was being honest with himself he was doing pretty okay. He only need another six hundred words or so to make a solid four page paper. Then the night was his to sleep away. Taeyong checked his phone, it was only nine thirty. This called for a break. He looked at his phone, he had a few text messages from his friends. Some of them were about a party tonight somewhere on campus. One was about dance practice tomorrow at 8am, and the person was also reminding him not to come in like an extra from the walking dead.    
  Taeyong pursed his lips out in a small frown. Party was a no go. He had to finish this essay and get to bed early. The end of the year showcase was coming up, his Saturdays for all of April were sacrificed towards it.    
 Still he was almost done and because he didn’t leave everything for the last possible minute he felt that he deserved a nice fifteen minute break. Taeyong looked up and around the study area. It was fairly large and occupied majority of the second floor of the library. He was seated in one the couches by the shelves of research books. There were rows of tables at the other end of the room. And there  _ he _ was again.    
  He as in Taeil was there again sitting at the second table right by the window. He was going through a packet of brightly highlighted articles a bit frantically. His fingers then typed away so quickly at his laptop. From this distance Taeyong could see the way his brow furrowed together in concentration? Or maybe frustration, Taeyong wasn’t sure exactly. But this was the third week in a row that he saw this boy in this area of the library late on a friday night. No one was here in this area during this time of the year, especially on friday nights. Except for Taeyong and this boy.      Taeil seemed to tuck himself so closely in the space, as if he was trying to hide himself or go unnoticed. But how was anyone not gonna notice a boy like him? Besides they were the only two here so it’d be weird if Taeyong didn’t notice him. And after last week he was definitely not gonna go unnoticed by Taeyong. So he peered out over to the boy at the table feverently typing at his laptop as discreetly as he possibly could. Taeyong knew that Taeil knew he was staring at him. It was a bit obvious, and sometimes he liked to think that Taeil was staring at him back. This wasn’t the first time either. This was an ongoing thing between them over the past few weeks. One of them stole a glance, another’s eyes would linger from across the room. But neither of them went beyond this very mild bit of tepid flirting. Until last week.    
  Taeyong curled his body tightly to himself, his cheeks warmed up just thinking about last friday. He stole another look at Taeil before hiding his face in between his knees. He should do something. Was there a cad for helping someone out through a almost end of the semester mental break down? There should be one in the school store. Taeyong still couldn’t believe he lost it in front of a stranger. He couldn’t stop thinking about last friday night, he peeked over his knees to look at Taeil.   


 

   Last friday night Taeyong had been sitting in his seat four at least five hours. He wondered if his ass was now one with the chair. He sat hunched over his laptop like some beaten down student troll. His fingers clacked loudly and quickly over his keyboard. His eyes blurred over the words on the document opened on the screen. He was around two thousand words into his first essay. He still had another essay to finish after, they were both due Monday in the morning. He still had another page left to write, then came in adding his citations and of course the lovely works cited page all in MLA format. He wondered now if his professors decided to plot against him just to spite his existence.  
  But he trudged on anyway. It was 10:30 pm, the library was only open for another hour and a half. He had to get both papers done tonight. And he had to get them done in the library. If he went back to his dorm he knew he would fall like a bag of rocks on his bed instead of continuing to work on his second paper. He knew himself too well, so he didn’t trust himself. He also knew that working on the paper tomorrow was not an option. The dance team would be practicing all day for the end of the year Showcase in May. It was only a few weeks away, and the captain was not playing any games during practice. So by Sunday his mind, body and soul would be too exhausted to even think about thinking. He had to get everything done tonight or he would be screwed sideways and upside down.  
  He stared at the screen, he was on the last sentence of the last page of the first paper. He almost wanted to cry. But tears would be saved for when he was actually done. He looked over at his articles and added in his citations, and work cited page. Bibme as always a life saver. He let out a long drawn out sigh, leaning back in his chair staring at his computer. College really knew how to make someone hate their life. He cracked his sore and cramped up fingers. He checked the time, it was 10:56 pm. Time was flying and he didn’t have much time to finish his second paper. He out another sigh and opened up another document after saving his finished essay.  
  This essay didn’t involve loads of research like the one before it. He just needed to explain his very valid opinion on why the main character from the most recent reading was an idiot. He just needed to sound like he knew what he was saying. It was time to put his skills of bull shitting he acquired through college to work. He only had about an hour to pull off an amazing word vomit of bull shit that’d get him a passing grade. His fingers began typing really fast. He added in the header and title and began to work on the introduction paragraph.  
  “Victor Frankenstein was an idiot….” he mumbles to himself as he typed, his eyes were beginning to glaze over the screen. He was sure it was just because he was typing so fast, besides he knew what he wanted to say. He just needed to get it on the document. He reached up to his face and rubbed at his eyes harshly, trying to rub the soreness out of his eyes. His muscles ached from sitting in the chair for so long. His brain was throbbing against his head, he not only just wrote a four page paper a few moments ago but had a test in one of his classes in the morning. He was beyond exhausted. Plus the night before the team had an impromptu practice on the yard until night time, then he studied until late. He was surprise he was still awake. How was he even still awake he wondered and his eyes began to close while he stared at his laptop’s screen. His eyes stung so bad, they just wanted to closed so badly. His body began to to lean to the side until his cheek was resting on the cool table top. Taeyong’s eyes fluttered lazily three more times until they finally fell shut.  
_Just for a minute, my eyes just hurt a little…_  
Taeyong sucked in a big breath, his mind felt strange and his chest ached. He hadn’t been breathing for about a few seconds. He sputter around the small pool of drool by his mouth. His body woke with a disturbingly loud jolt against the table. It punctured the long silence of the room. His heart slammed painfully against his chest, as he looked up and his eyes met with the only other person in the entire room.  
  It was for only a couple of seconds really, but to Taeyong who just woken up from nap he should have not been having it really lasted an eternity and a half. His eyes were wide and wild, and his hands frantically searched for his phone breaking eye contact with the slightly frightened stranger.   
  “It's almost 12.” the other student said from across the room. He wasn’t far, but neither close either. But it was so quiet he didn’t have to speak very loudly. Now Taeyong’s heart skidded into powerful stop and he looked down at his phone. It read 11:54 pm. He only had six minutes before the library was closed. His fingers then rubbed vigorously at his cursor to wake up his laptop, and to his complete and utter horror he confirmed that he only barely finished his intro paragraph. He let out a small weak whimper as he stared at his screen. In the pregnant silence of the study room he could hear the steps of the librarian coming down to check if anyone was here and to tell them to get out for the night.   
  Taeyong would never admit to crying over anything to anyone especially not this. But he wasn’t holding himself together very well. His eyes stung for a completely different reason now. Everything suddenly felt heavy. His chest felt like it was being weighed down by stacks of references books that were only a few feet away from him. His head felt like it was being stuffed with wet cotton. His fingers twitched over the keyboard. Taeyong blinked, again and again but the stinging didn’t go away. His face contorted into a weird hybrid of complete devastation and laughter. He thumb brushes over his lower lip and he bites down on his nail, well whats left of his nail really.  
 The other student was in the second row of the tables, facing Taeyong and watching with fascination and concern. Taeyong was losing it. In public, he sort of forgot about that part.  
 He was far too busy trying to remember how to breathe again. But it wasn’t working, his body kept trying to shut down on him he didn’t even notice when the other student got up from his seat was walked over to him.  
 Taeyong felt a hand on his shoulder, he hadn’t even realized his body was trembling too. His head snapped up and looked up at the other student with wild red rimmed eyes. Tears welled at the corner of his eyes but refused to fall. He only stared with his both slightly opened, forcing himself to take big breaths of air.  
 “Are...Are you okay?” he asked Taeyong. Taeyong tried to answer he really did, but he ended up just giving out a small cry like a wounded animal instead of real words. It startled the boy, and he looked around slightly panicking before looking back at Taeyong who was hyperventilating again.  
_Oh yeah I’m totally okay. I’m just internally screaming at myself until the next century._ __  
 “Okay….just tell me what happened...slowly and please breathe.” he said softly, and gave Taeyong’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze. Taeyong only let out a small sniffle.  
  “I’m fucked.  I fucked up royally, fucked myself sideways, upside down and over a pole.” Taeyong blurted out, and looked up the boy who only stared back with wide scandalized eyes. Maybe he shouldn’t worded it exactly like that. He covered his mouth and looked down embarrassed.  
  “i-I gotta finish this essay tonight,” he starts off with a shaky breath following.  
  “I finished one earlier and had a long week….such a long week.” he sighs out and feels every bit of him ache. His throat feels like it's closing in again but he steadies himself as best he can.  
  “With tests, papers and with assignments coming out the ass. Plus dance practice and tutoring. And I have no time to finish this essay tomorrow or Sunday and it's due Morning in the morning.” he goes on his eyes sort of glazed over as he thinks about how he just ruined his life.  
  “And...and...if I go back to my dorm right now I know….I just know I’m not gonna get it done. I’m gonna fall asleep like I just did right now and fucked myself up real good….I just…..I just….” Taeyong pretends like his voice isn’t trembling. Even though he is still trying to remember to breathe and talk at the same time. He blinked a few times and realized that he just sort of lost it front of a complete stranger. He looked back up at said stranger with a flushed expression.  
 “i-I’m sorry….it's not even finals yet and I’m already losing my mind. And you’re probably thinking I’m a mess and to be fair I am,” Taeyong mumbled and tried to chuckle to lighten the mood but it came out like a small choked sob. As if the mood could really be lighten at all. He had to figure something out to get his shit together.   
 “Don’t worry about it,” he says and his voice Taeyong notices now is very soft but deep at the same time. He just stared up at the kind stranger quietly minus a few more sniffles. His face begins to grow just the tiniest bit warm but he blames that on his body forgetting how to function.  
 “Everyone sort of loses it because of college every now and then. I’m pretty sure you’re not the only one...even I’ve lost it in the past.” he says and his lips curve into a small sheepish smile. Taeyong is still silent and still staring. He can feel color rising in his cheeks. He looks down and paws nervously at the ends of his sweater’s sleeves before almost going to bite his thumb nail again. But he stops himself when he hears the other’s voice break the silence that hung between them.  
 “So….you can’t finish your paper in your room?” he asks softly and glances from Taeyong’s mess of research material back to him. He bites down on his lower lip waiting for an answer. Taeyong nods very slowly and quietly.  
 “And you don’t have anytime to finish it during the weekend?” he follows up and Taeyong just sighs.  
 “Well, this might sound weird or random but I’d feel bad leaving you on your own like this. I’m worried you’ll end up in a corner somewhere rocking back and forth or something. Do you live in Brown?” he asks and Taeyong sort of just stared back dumbly he wasn’t sure how to answer. He also tried to ignore the other thing the stranger said.  
  “y-Yes? Why?” he asked hesitantly, and bit down on his lower lip.  
  “Okay good….come on lets go to the longue, I’ll stay up with you until you finish your paper.” he says, and nudges Taeyong’s arm. Taeyong doesn’t move.  
  “Huh? What are you sa-”  
  “If I stay up with you then you won’t fall asleep and you can finish your paper. Come on the sooner we go the better, besides the librarian is on his way over to tell us to get out.” he said and points over to the librarian making his way towards the two of them. Taeyong still hasn’t moved an inch.  
  “Wait you’re really offering to stay up with me? A complete stranger? Who might not be completely stable at the moment either?” Taeyong asked and the other boy chuckled softly. Its such a nice sound, Taeyong thinks distracted.  
  “I know its kinda weird but if I was in your situation I’d like someone to help me out so….Come on already don’t you have lots to do tomorrow?” he asked, the corner of his mouth tugged into another small timid grin. He takes several steps back and lets the librarian know that they are on their way out. Taeyong blinked a few times thinking for about two seconds before shoving everything in his backpack and hopping up on his feet.  
 Then fell against the table cause his ass was so numb. He grunted softly before getting his footing, the boy laughs softly and begins walking towards the staircases to the back exit. Taeyong really liked the way he laughs. It just sounds nice. He argues with himself about it, but the sound rings in his ears as he walks. He starts to follow him to the back exit.  
_Nothing to lose_ he thinks as he walks out of the door and into crisp early spring night. The air is cool, and a breeze blows by every now and then. The night is clear, the stars hang up on the sly twinkling alongside the moon. Taeyong glances up and then back ahead of himself. The boy continues to walk at his own pace towards the Brown dorms. He doesn’t walk to fast or slow either and Taeyong follows behind him with ease. He could walk beside him but he stays behind oddly. He then realizes he doesn’t even know the boy’s name.  
  “Um….I’m Taeyong by the way.” he said and his voice seems so loud in the night’s quiet. The boy stopped and turned towards him and then laughed a bit while covering his mouth.  
  “I can’t believe I haven’t even told you my name yet. Thats embarassing. But yeah...it's Taeil nice to meet you Taeyong.” he says and Taeyong isn’t sure what swoon over first his smile or his laugh. He might have gone cross eyed trying to do both at the same time. He blinks a few times and looks down covering his face with his hands very glad that Taeil was walking ahead again.  
_Tonight isn’t real, nothing is real and time is just an illusion created by man_  
   “So what is your paper on?” Taeil asked, his steps began to slow and and Taeyong had to sidestep in order not to bump into him. He started to walk along side him and let out a small sigh.  
   “It's a close reading on Frankenstein, pretty simple. I’m going to talk about how much of an idiot Victor was mostly.” Taeyong mumbles and he saw from the corner of his eye Taeil grinning slightly.  
   “Sounds like a very interesting paper, I’m sure your professor will have fun reading it,” he said and Taeyong’s lips curved into the slightest smile.   
   They got to the back door of Brown Dorm building, it was where the other lounge room was. It was barely used especially during the night time. It was kind of out of the way unless you were coming in through the back way, the front door was of course much more accessible. But the front way longe was usually used for movie and game nights for dorm. Taeil was smart to go straight for the back lounge.  
   “What floor do you live on? I don’t think I’ve really seen you around,” he said flashing his key card over the sensor the thing beeps and he quickly opens the door before it locks again. Taeyong bites his lip and steps inside and heads for the  round wooden table by the fireplace.   
   “Second floor but I spend a lot of time in Greenville building because my friends are there,” he answers softly taking his seat. He starts to take out his laptop and used copy of frankenstein. He turns the laptop up and his eyes flicker up at who sits at couch. Taeyong works to not let the small pang of disappointment show on his face.  
   “Ah that makes sense, you friends with a lot of freshmen then?” he asked and took one of the old throw pillows, hugging it to his chest while he leans back on the couch. Taeyong was only slightly jealous that he’s sitting on the couch. And of the pillow.  
_Wait no what not the pillow. Psh that pillow is pretty hideous anyway._ __  
   “Yeah kinda...some sophomores cause they’re on the same dance team is me too,” Taeyong answered as he waits for his laptop to finish loading. Then he quickly opened his embarrassingly short paper. He glanced at Taeil who looks at him with what he’d like to think was an encouraging smile. Thats what gave him the tiny push to complete his thesis and then go into his first body paragraph.  
  It was quiet, but not the silent study area quiet because Taeil was humming softly. It was nice and it helped keep Taeyong focused as if he was listening to music on his phone or something.  
  “What song is that?” he asked he figure since he was almost done with his second body paragraph he could use a tiny little break to talk to Taeil. Taeil looked up from his phone, and Taeyong noticed he had headphones on one of his ears, the other dangled.   
  “Oh its just a song I’ve practicing...for the showcase at the end of the month…” he mumbled and looked down at his phone again. Taeyong’s eyebrow raised with interest.  
  “You’re going to be in the showcase? I am too...well the dance team is and I’m in it so I will be in the showcase but- You sing?” Taeyong’s face grew so hot at the utter tongue fuck up he just made. He tried to cover his face with the sleeve of his sweater hoping Taeil’s song was louder than his fuck ups.   
 He chuckled softly and nodded his head his lips pulled into a small smile. And Taeyong only saw that small sweet bashful smile. He blinked a few times quickly before looking down at his laptop. He was so close to being done and it was 1:28 am. He could have this all done by 2am and get at least five and half hours of sleep before dance practice in the morning. He stretched his arms a bit they started to fall asleep, and then rearranged his spine because he was pretty sure he was actually getting a hunch back. Then there was a very loud disturbing crack that came from his back. Taeyong froze in place, and let the pain become a learning experience for him. Hard wooden chairs were not his friend.  
 “uh...Do you want to sit here with me? I don’t think your body is very happy sitting on the hard chairs in the library for so long and now again at the table.” Taeil offered and scooted to the left a bit, leaving the right side open for Taeyong. Taeyong grabbed his laptop and his copy of frankenstein and quietly made his way to the couch with his head hung low.  
_I should count how many times I’ve embarrassed myself tonight. Maybe it’d be a record._ __  
  “Are you almost done? I’m not rushing or anything like that just curious,” he says and only slightly peers at Taeyong’s laptop screen. Taeyong gives him a wary glance his face still warm.  
  “Almost I just need another page,” he mumbled, big brown eyes were still staring up at Taeil for no real reason. Except now they were sitting closely, and Taeil’s face was so close to his own.  
_Not close enough. What not shut up sleep deprived brain. You are high off yesterday’s coffee_ _fumes. What?_  
  “Oh thats good, soon you’ll finally get to rest.” he said softly, his head leans against the back the couch but his eyes are still on Taeyong. Taeyong swallows loudly and tries to turn away to look back at his computer screen but all he can think about is how Taeil had natural puppy-like eyes. And they were like two pools of melted dark chocolate. Also how his lower lip was slightly fuller than his upper lip and it gave him a unique natural pout. Everything about Taeil just was cute and Taeyong needed to stop thinking about him and go back to thinking about Victor Frankenstein and what a fuck up he was.   
_And he has really nice eyebrows. Damn it. Focus Lee Taeyong._ __  
 “What's your major?” he asks suddenly and Taeyong flinched slightly. His voice is soft but it was quiet plus he was thinking very deeply about Victor’s eyebrows.   
 “Dance with a minor in music,” he said while retyping the same sentence for the third time. This close reading was not about Victor’s eyebrows. Taeil hummed softly and nodded, his eyes were fluttering very slowly. Dark lashes brushed ever so slightly over the apples of his cheeks. Taeyong refused to stare any longer. He turned towards his laptop and began typing again furiously, he was going to finish this paper tonight.  
 “What about you?” he asked, he was moving onto his conclusion he smirked to himself.   
_In conclusion if Victor had some balls confessed over his fuck ups maybe less people would’ve died._ __  
 “Music and Marketing,” he said and then tried very poorly to stifle a yawn.  
 “I’m almost done you can head to your dorm now you must be exhausted.” Taeyong pretends like his voice didn’t waver and his chest didn’t tighten just a tiny bit nervously. Taeil shook his head and pursed his lips out into a small frown. Taeyong wasn’t choking internally.  
 “Now I said I’d stay until you’re done. So I’ll stay until your done.” said the determination in his voice very real so Taeyong decided not aruge against it. Instead he thought about how nice Taeil was towards him. Just asking him if he was okay back at the library was kind, but actually staying up with while finished his paper he was probably an angel. An angel sent to Taeyong to keep him from dropping out and going out to live in the forest like a hermit. That was still his plan C.  
  “You’re really nice…” he mumbled softly and mistakenly out loud. Taeil blinked a few times staring at him before looking down a bit bashfully. Taeyong blamed his blurred vision and the faulty lightning for him thinking he saw a blush on Taeil’s cheeks.   
_They look so warm and soft._ __  
   “Its nothing...I just know if I was in your situation I’d be greatful if someone helped me out.” he shrugged.  
  “Still you’ve saved me. I was just about ready to go run to the woods, find me a nice bearless cave to live in.” Taeyong said while he finished the last sentence of his conclusion. He had four pages exactly.  
__Perfect.   
  “I’m done finally.” he said and turned to look at Taeil who had a lazy smile on his lips, his dark eyes half open. He slowly raised his head and smiled a little wider. Taeyong smiled a little back.   
  “Great, I’m glad you could get it all done.” he stretches his arms out and gets up. He lets out a yawn and glances at Taeyong hesitantly.   
  “I’ll see you around...in the library. Good luck on the rest of the semester Taeyong” he chuckled softly and started to walk towards the first floor door to the dorms. Taeyong felt a rush and quickly got up, which was  bad idea his entire lower half is numb and legs forgot how to do their job for two very long seconds.   
 “Um Bye Taeil! Thanks for this...I owe you!” he called out way too loudly for 1:47 am. But it was okay because Taeil turned around right the door and gave him a small half embarrassed half endeared smile. Taeyong’s night was made.   
  Now to sleep like nothing else matters in the world until 8am.  
  
  


  
    Taeyong’s face lit up a bright and hot red remembering Taeil’s smile at the end of the night. He watched as Taeil seemed to become a little more stressed out with each packet of articles he flipped over. Taeyong bit down on his lower lip. Remembering what he said last week, he owed Taeil and he needed him. Well needed him to just help him out. He didn’t /need/ him like he was anything special Taeyong thought over, and then tried to stop himself. He was overthinking everything. He set his essay down for a moment and walked over to Taeil’s table.   
   “uh...Hey Taeil.” Taeyong said softly even though they were the ones in the library. Taeil took a second to look up at Taeyong. He stared at him for what felt like to Taeyong the longest three seconds of his life before smiling.   
  “Hey Taeyong, another late night?” he asked and Taeyong gave him what he hoped was a smile but felt a lot more like a grimace.   
  “Not tonight, I’m almost done for the night….but you seem like you could use a little help.” he said gazing over the mess of research material spread over the table.   
  So many numbers.   
 He chuckled softly and looked down at his work before nodding slowly.    
  “Yeah I could use a little help.”   
  “Okay let's go to the lounge….I’ll order us something to eat we might have a long night ahead of us.” Taeyong said and then paused because he wasn’t sure if he just made /this/ whatever this was between them a date or not but decided to act normal.   
  “You know cause food is really good for studying and writing papers….and the lounge is great because it's like 87% less creepy than the library.”   
  “And the other 13%?” Taeil asked his tone seemed like he was amused and he was already collecting his materials to put in his backpack. Taeyong smiled at him.   
  “The portrait of the old man. His eyes follow you around the room. I swear by the time I graduate I’m going to burn that portrait.” he said and Taeil laughed. Taeyong smiled even wider and grabbed his bag stuffed his laptop in it before bounding over back to Taeil who waited for him at the door.   
  “I might beat you to it though.”Taeil said with just the slightest smirk and Taeyong was really good at looking like he wasn’t screaming internally.    
   “Are you a senior?” he asked instead of saying something cool and competitive. Taeil grinned and nodded.   
   “You’re a junior right?” he asked and Taeyong nodded back. They walked outside, the air again was cool and crisp. Spring was taking its time with the weather but Taeyong didn’t mind he felt very warm and fluttery staring at Taeil smiling at him.    
   Finals were almost here and the semester was almost over but Taeyong wished he had another three Aprils just to spend with Taeil.   
  
**END**


End file.
